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Rinn felt a strange tiredness — not just exhaustion, but a sense of uselessness, as if he were being moved without control.
Behind the momentary disconnection and discomfort, there was a slight, disquieting familiarity in those feelings, and the faint impression of tranquillity remained through that wire.
It would be a lie to say that he didn't feel afraid, considering the speed with which he was being carried and the hurried pace of her steps.
Sarah then hurried down the narrow stairs that connected the exit of the room to the next section of the area, moving with haste to reach the other side.
As Sarah was walking under pressure, a huge bang like a tremor shook the entire building she had just left, shaking the ground.
It was as if a bomb had been activated — the impact was so violent and of such magnitude that it began to shake the ground and the surrounding structures.
Soon, a huge mass of rubble buried the building behind into the ground, and Rinn realized that Sarah hadn't even looked at the area — she had decided to move on as tears flowed from her eyes.
The noise was evident, all the more so because of the chain of destruction that followed in its wake.
At that moment, Rinn felt his body getting heavier and heavier, almost as if a powerful drug was invading his body.
The sensation of numbness had affected his senses.
He couldn't help but close his eyes, feeling the pain so unbearable that it seemed to make his mind collapse in seconds.
He began to cry and squirm, as he could feel nothing but pain, and the only thing he could do before losing consciousness was to concentrate on that invisible thread in his mind.
He could hear the crack of gunfire in the air, the sound of metal reverberating around him, and his body moving up and down in Sarah's arms.
One moment, he saw himself in one place...
...The next...
...Everything around him had changed.
The memory was fragmented, but clear enough. At some point, he saw himself lying down in a chair — not just any chair, but the big, rustic ones, like airplane seats, hard and uncomfortable, with no comfort whatsoever.
In front of him, the environment was cramped, a kind of metal corridor full of starry wires that intertwined in a complete mess, with small flashing lights, as if the interior of that place was alive or was just something like an arcade or video game.
I could hear the soft sound of robotic operating systems, mixed with the noise of propulsion.
Outside, there was only a sea of darkness, punctuated by countless small luminous points in the distance, which spread out like distant, countless stars.
However, even though he wanted to stay conscious longer to understand what was really happening, his eyes closed automatically, fast asleep.
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— Agrhh!!
As soon as he regained consciousness and woke up, Rinn felt an enormous pain in his chest. He couldn't organize his thoughts; everything was very muddled, disconnected lapses echoing in his mind, bringing back only a few scattered flashes of previous events.
Honestly, his head was a mess.
The first thing he had to do was force his eyes to focus on what was around him, and well...
The view wasn't pleasant at all.
The furniture around the room he was in was made of rudimentary black wood, of visibly inferior quality, with obvious flaws that showed it had been used for a long time and was beginning to wear out.
The crib he was lying on looked just as worn as the rest of the room.
The rough, blackened wood that covered both the crib and the furniture showed clear signs of previous use — wear marks, scratches on the sides, signs of burning and strange stains resting there.
In short, that crib had probably been used by other babies, and on that basis alone I could understand to some extent where it was or what the economic state of the place was.
What the fuck?
Rinn proclaimed in thought, with fresh memories of his past life in mind.
Well, his current life seemed to be a reflection of his previous one. Even the room around him was grotesquely similar, which made it all the more terrifying.
At least he had a crib, you could say.
He tried to move, but again, he was just a baby.
His small, fragile body didn't respond the way he wanted it to. His reactions were slow, his thinking disconnected, and his senses were confused — as if he was experiencing a delay, like after drinking too much alcohol or having undergone anesthesia after a complicated surgery.
He couldn't get up, so with great difficulty he had to drag himself across the bed, rolling from side to side. After several attempts and failures, he finally managed to reach the edge of the crib, where the bars were raised.
With effort, his slender fingers finally closed on the rough wood of the railing, looking for something to lean on, even the slightest bit — just enough to get a wider view of the area when she stood up.
Sarah isn't here.
The room was small, probably no more than 3x3 meters, and this was obvious from the way the crib took up almost all the available space. Every meter of the area seemed cramped, with only enough space left for three other buildings to fit.
The walls were a dark gray, and worst of all, there wasn't a single window to give the place the slightest bit of life. The paint was a morbid, monotonous shade that made even the eye tire after a while.
In short, boring.
In front of him, there was a door, the same color as the walls, blending in so perfectly that it seemed part of the scenery itself. If he didn't focus his vision, he wouldn't even realize there was a door in that direction.
What was most striking was the lack of a handle on that door, and of anything else that could open it.
The door was made of a strange metallic material, something Rinn had never seen before, with an opaque, cold sheen, similar to the one he had found in the place where he had been with Sarah.
Where am I?
At the thought, he put his small hands on his forehead and let out a sigh — or at least he tried to.
What came out, however, was just a "Bua", a muffled sound, more like the beginning of a cry than anything else, as if his body hadn't yet learned to express itself.
He threw himself backwards onto the bed. The wooden railing of the crib was too high for him to escape — and even if he did, where would he go? There wasn't much to do there.
Rinn let out another sigh, and could only think of the last moments of his past life.
What he most wanted was to die, to cease to exist, to finally rest. He even thought about the possibility that, when he died, he could be rewarded for all the suffering he had gone through, by going somewhere that could be considered "heaven", couldn't it?
Yes, heaven would be the perfect place to rest. He could even imagine the scenery: a huge paradise beach, where he could lie under a parasol, relaxing with a cold drink, while watching beautiful girls frolicking in the sand, with perfect bodies and smiling at him.
It was the life of his dreams, wasn't it? A place where suffering disappeared and all that remained was peace and pleasure.
Some would say it resembled hell, but it would be hard to say.
But, of course, like everything else in his life, even that thought seemed like a flawed illusion.
What the fuck, am I going to have to start all over again?
He muttered in thought, the idea of starting again was simply too heavy a burden.
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